The present invention relates to an interior covering part, particularly an instrument panel for a motor vehicle, including a member which is covered by a foil and a flap covering an opening for passage of an air bag when the air bag is triggered. The member is constructed integrally with the flap, and the flap is also covered by the foil and marked, by at least one of a weakening and a perforation, along its edge.
An interior covering part, formed by an instrument panel for a motor vehicle, is known from European Patent Document EP 0 771 695 A1. This known interior covering part consists of a member which is covered by a foil and which is constructed integrally with a flap covering the opening for the passage of an air bag when the air bag is triggered. The flap is also covered by the foil and is marked by a weakening and/or a perforation along its edge.
It is an object of this invention to further develop an interior covering part of the initially mentioned type such that the part can be provided with a laminated-on decorative layer on the side facing the vehicle occupant compartment and so that a fast and well defined opening of the flap is ensured when the air bag is triggered in spite of the presence of the laminated-on decorative layer. Additionally, it is an object to have the weakening and/or perforation of the flap not be visible from the vehicle occupant compartment.
According to the invention, these objects are achieved by providing, on a side facing a vehicle occupant compartment, the interior covering part with a particular laminated-on decorative layer. The decorative layer is slotted only in a slotted area on a side thereof situated opposite a hypothetical folding axis and in areas on both adjoining upright sides of the flap. The slotted areas of the decorative layer are covered by a fitted-on strip. Additional characteristics which are advantageously included in the invention are also claimed.
A principal advantage achieved by the invention is that the interior covering part can be provided, in a simple manner, with an improved decorative layer made of leather or the like. The decorative layer, in the area of the tear line, does not have to be provided with a perforation by way of a laser. Instead, the decorative layer is slotted only locally, the slotted areas facing away from a hypothetical folding axis of the flap being covered by a fitted-on strip. The transversely extending slotted area and the two upright slotted areas on the decorative layer have short lengths and act as defined tear lines when the air bag is triggered. The preferably leather-covered integral flap, therefore, opens in a rapid and well-defined manner. In the inoperative position of the air bag, no tear line on the instrument panel is visible from the vehicle occupant compartment.
The invention is illustrated in the drawings and will be described in detail in the following.